La Grande plays host to East / West Poets Gathering

LA GRANDE, Oregon – Writers from across the region will converge for the second East/West Poets Gathering on Friday, Oct. 20 through Sunday, Oct. 22 in La Grande.

 

“The event is the brainchild of local writer and publisher, David Memmott, and brings writers together to demonstrate the diversity of poets in Oregon and to give poetry a prominent forum in rural communities,” said David Axelrod, EOU professor of English.

 

Axelrod and his wife Jodi Varon are the editors of “Basalt,” EOU’s literary magazine, which is helping to sponsor the event along with the university’s Ars Poetica program. Other sponsors include Wordcraft of Oregon LLC, RondeHouse Media Arts Konsortium, The Gadfly, ArtsEast, and Taprock Books.

 

Events will kick off Friday evening at Wee Mama’s, 224 Fir Street, from 7-9:30 p.m. where members of the Intermediate Poetry class at EOU will give a reading. Additional readings from “RondeDance,” the annual anthology published by Wordcraft of Oregon, will be followed by an open mic session and social time.

 

Saturday’s gathering will culminate in a day-long event at The Gadfly, 115 Elm Street. From 9 a.m. to noon public discussions and roundtables will be held in the gaming room. Coffee and tea will be provided and a book and magazine fair will be open throughout the day.

 

At 1 p.m. a reading series will feature area authors George Venn, Thomas Madden, Richard Mack, Misha Nogha, Pamela Steele, Matt Schumacher, Donald Wolff, Bette Lynch Husted and Axelrod.

 

George Venn, EOU professor emeritus, is the author of several books including “West of Paradise,” (1999), “Marking the Magic Circle,” (1987). His most recent work, “Soldier to Advocate: C.E.S. Wood’s 1877 Legacy,” was released earlier this month.

 

Thomas Madden, also EOU professor emeritus, has a new collection of poetry waiting to be released on November 1 entitled, “Lessons for Custer.”  He is also the author of “Graves in Wheat,” (1998).

 

Richard Mack, of La Grande, is the author of two previous books of poetry and essays, “Against a Western Sky,” and “Reflections in a Western River.” He was a finalist in the 2006 Oregon Quarterly essay contest.

 

Author of “Red Spider White Web, Ke-qua-hawkas,” and “Prayers of Steel,” Misha Nogha, of Cove, has just completed two new works, “Yellowjacket,” a novel of magic realism, and a collection of short prose, “Magpies and Tigers.”

 

Pamela Steele, of Mission, was the recipient of a Fishtrap fellowship and a winter of the 2004 Kentucky Writers Coalition’s Jim Wayne Miller Poetry Prize. Her first full-length book of poetry, “Paper Bird,” is forthcoming in 2007.

 

The work of EOU professor and poet Matt Schumacher, of La Grande, was nominated for a 2006 Pushcart Prize. His poems have been published in “Exquisite Corpse” and “Gunball Poetry,” as well as being set to music by a punk rock band, the Iowa Beef Experience.

 

Donald Wolff, of La Grande, is the author of a poetry chapbook, “Some Days,” (2004), and his poetry collection, “Soon Enough,” will be published in 2007. He is a professor of English and writing at EOU.

 

Bette Lynch Husted, of Pendleton, was named a finalist in 2004 for the Oregon Book Award in creative non-fiction for “Above Clearwater: Living on Stolen Land.” She is also the author of a poetry chapbook entitled, “After Fire.”

 

Author of three collections of poems, David Axelrod, of La Grande, won the 2004 Spokane Poetry Prize for his most recent work, “The Cartographer’s Melancholy.” Other works include, “Troubled Intimacies,” “The Kingdom at Hand” and “Jerusalem of Grass.” He was recently named a finalist for the 2006 Oregon Book Award for poetry.

 

Following the readings the local Zymurgy Quartet will perform jazz music from 9:15 to 10:30 p.m.

 

Sunday morning the group will meet from 9-11 a.m. at the Old Towne Mercantile on Adams Avenue for coffee, tea and pastries. 

 

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